CHN Family Homes
CHN Family Homes is a scattered-site project that provides affordable supportive housing to 15 homeless disabled families with children. Community Housing Network, Inc. works in collaboration with community-based social, health and employment programs to provide needed services to these families. Households are also linked to rental subsidies and benefits.
Community Housing Network, the program manager and property owner, is a nonprofit developer, owner, and manager of supportive housing, providing specialized property management services and rent subsidies to people with disabilities since 1987. To date, CHN has developed and owns over 1,000 apartments at 130 different sites, which are widely scattered throughout Franklin County in 27 zip codes and six suburban communities in addition to Columbus.
What is supportive housing? Supportive housing is quality, affordable, permanent housing linked to social, health and employment services. Residents hold their own leases and pay a portion of their rent based on income. Support services enable residents to find work, maintain their recovery, and give back to the community. Over the past decade supportive housing has been successfully developed and operated throughout Franklin County including suburban communities like Bexley, Upper Arlington, Reynoldsburg, Grandview, Grove City, and Worthington.
Families Served: The families served in CHN Family Homes have lived in emergency shelters and may have experienced multiple episodes of homelessness. At least one adult in each family is disabled with mental illness, drug or alcohol addiction, chronic unemployment, and/or physical disabilities.
The homeless families that enter CHN Family Homes have been referred through the emergency shelter system, outreach programs, or ADAMH or other service agencies. CHN has developed a collaborative relationship with the YMCA Family Center, which serves as the front door for all homeless families in Franklin County, as well as the Homeless Families Foundation.
Services: A full range of supportive services is available for the families to assist them in achieving long-term stability and personal growth toward self-sufficiency, including support from community-based mental health centers. Depending on the needs of the family, services may include on-going assessment, case management, psychiatric services, individual and family counseling, substance abuse treatment, assistance with daily living, and job skills and employment training and placement.
Type of Housing: Units include existing CHN-owned scattered-site apartments, with sizes appropriate to family size, primarily with two to three bedrooms. CHN's apartments are located on or near major bus lines, in residential or mixed commercial/multi-family areas, thus affording easy access to grocery stores, medical facilities, schools, recreation and community centers and services. In accordance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, CHN Family Homes makes reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities.
Tenants have the same rights and responsibilities as residents in other apartment buildings, as established by Fair Housing and Landlord/Tenant laws. To assure tenants rights, CHN has a Tenants Rights policy, which is provided to all tenants and includes a grievance process. Tenants must pay rent, based on their income; maintain their apartments; and comply with the terms of their lease.
For more information about the CHN Family Homes supportive housing program, please contact:
Anthony Penn, Chief Operating Officer, Community Housing Network, Inc. (614) 487-6700.
Sandra Geronimo Assistant Director for Tenant and Provider Services, Community Housing Network, Inc. (614) 917-1011
Sponsors - Community Housing Network receives support for this project from
- Ohio Department of Development, Ohio Housing Trust Fund
- U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
